E2M2: The Lava Pits (Heretic)

E2M2: The Lava Pits is the second level in the Hell's Maw episode of Heretic. It uses the music track "Atlas" by Kevin Schilder.

Essentials
From the starting point, step forward and the wall will open revealing another vast field of lava. You will get your first look at your next new enemy, the sabreclaw. Take him out before dropping down into the pool of lava. Cross the lava pool by hopping from island to island. Unfortunately the volcanic rock is unstable and some of the islands will sink when you step on them. There are four larger ones that have a lighter texture than the others that are the stable ones, located at roughly the two o'clock, five o'clock, eight o'clock and eleven o'clock positions when viewed on the map. Your objective is the cavern on the east side, so just make a run for the southeastern opening. Take out the beasties, including the undead warriors you can see through the barred window to the north. At the eastern end of the cavern, you can see a pit at the base of the cascade with some goodies. Drop down and take out the sabreclaw. As soon as you grab any of the goodies, the wall sections will open containing gargoyles. The only way to get back up is to use the Wings of Wrath.

Get the yellow key and ride the fork-like sections up to get the goodies on top of the cascade. Use the wings to your advantage and head for the yellow doors which are to the north of the cavern with the sinking islands. Both doors lead to the same place and have the same monsters behind them. Proceed up the stairs. Press the switch to raise another staircase. When you head up, the wall ahead will open. Also, the wall behind you, the one the switch was on, will lower containing a nest of gargoyles. Get the Dragon Claw and the Chaos Device, the latter of which being the first of its kind to be found. Proceed up the stairs again. Start by going left. You will come to a large building with barred windows. Take out the undead warriors through the windows before proceeding inside. Get the Map Scroll. The inner part is inaccessible for now. Go back outside and get the Ring of Invincibility behind the lava pool. That is all you can do there for now.

Go back past the stairs and the big door (opened with the green key) and proceed down the stairs to the east. Before proceeding down the next set of stairs to the east, there are a few things to do. There is a Silver Shield in the room behind the southern door and a switch in the room behind the eastern door. The switch opens the center section of the prison building. Proceed down the stairs in the east. They lead to the room where you saw the imprisoned undead warrior earlier. Take him out if you have not already done so.

Head back to the prison. Take out the golems. When you step inside, platforms will raise containing undead warrior ghosts. Take them out and get the Gauntlets of the Necromancer and the green key. Head for the green door. Take out the gargoyles inside and press the switch in the southwest corner. This will raise a pillar revealing the exit.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room halfway down the stairs in the north-east of the level, the wall section with the bird motif in the northwest corner contains a disciple of D'Sparil and the Hellstaff. (sector 31)
 * 2) In the northeast corner of the room overlooking the lavafalls is a wall section with a blue banner. Open this to find a Tome of Power. When you grab it, the wall section ahead will open containing a disciple. Proceed forward and another wall section will open containing another sorcerer and a Morph Ovum. (sector 46)
 * 3) When you press the switch to reveal the exit, it will also raise a wall section in the southeast corner of the same room providing an access to a secret area. When you head for the south corner of the room, pillars will rise releasing weredragons. Get the Bag of Holding, then proceed through the south door. The teleporter will take you back to the top of the lavafall. (sector 5)
 * 4) Once you have been on the top of the lavafall, you can get into the section between the northern and southern  openings in this area. Get the Shadowsphere. A niche to the south will open containing a disciple. (sector 127)
 * 5) Once you have found secret #3, a wall section will open past the lava pool where the Ring of Invincibility was found. Take out the iron lich by using the enhanced Hellstaff, for instance. Then get the Mystic Urn and -  another new item - the Enchanted Shield. (sector 140)

Bugs
The gizmos that mark the green key door have been flagged to appear only on bringest them oneth skill level. Since there is no obvious reason for such an arrangement, it was probably due to a mapping mistake.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on August 12, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 4)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 5)
 * 3) facing north-west. (thing 6)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 7)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: